Envy the killifish.
Normally a shy and reserved animal, the killifish is always a bit nervous. It’s always looking left and right, trying to avoid danger and trouble.
It’s not a great way to live.
But for a few days of its life, everything changes for the killifish. It’s suddenly filled with energy and passion. Its fears melt away and it finds itself enjoying the wonder and joy that was always there, surrounding it.
In its new-found optimism, the killifish swims up to surface of the water, splashes in the sun, and even turns its scaly belly to the sky for the pure pleasure of it.
And then, a seagull or some other predatory bird, spotting the shiny belly of the killifish glistening at the surface of the water, swoops down, snatches the killifish, and swallows it whole.
Turns out the killifish had actually gotten infected by the Euhaplorchis californiensis parasite.
The E. californiensis gets into the brain of the killifish. It messes with its serotonin and dopamine levels. In this way, it makes the normally wary fish action-oriented and fearless.
And here’s the key point:
The parasite does this not out of spite, and not out of random destructiveness.
Instead, the parasite does it because getting the killifish eaten by the seagull is crucial to completing the parasite’s own complex lifecycle (a bizarre story, one that’s worth looking up).
A couple days ago, I wrote an email about tying in your marketing emails to news items.
I wrote something about princes Harry and William, and about “unity.” Then I stumbled onwards, towards my point and sales pitch.
Honestly, that email was nonsense. It was something I did just to demonstrate the point I was talking about. I would never write an email like that if I were trying to really sell something. I wouldn’t ramble on about a random news item and then milk it for some kind of aimless point.
Because here’s something I’ve learned from the best marketers out there:
The best marketers don’t just tell vulnerable personal stories, or just share interesting news items, or just make mind-expanding analogies.
In other words, they don’t just share ideas or provide changes of perspective for the sake of being helpful, friendly, or educational.
Instead, they do everything — story, news, change of perspective — for the sake of furthering the sale.
Perhaps that’s super obvious to you. In that case, you’re smarter than I am, because it took me some time to realize. When I did realize it, it was a huge mental shift that changed both how I consume marketing and how I produce marketing.
Now, it’s popular in the marketing world to say your marketing should be all about your prospect, and not about you.
And maybe that’s true.
But what’s not true is that your marketing should be about who your prospects are, what they want to become or achieve, and how your product or service can help them get there.
Instead, here’s the key point, once again:
Your marketing should be about what you want your prospects to do, and the beliefs they need to have in order to move in the direction you want them to go.
Maybe that sounds mercenary or even parasitical.
Maybe it is.
And maybe it raises the question, if what you are reading right now is marketing, then what is it I want you to do, and what do I want you to believe?
I’ll leave the question of beliefs hanging for now.
As for what I want you to do, I just have an offer, my free daily email newsletter. It’s for you to decide whether you are action-oriented enough to take me up on this offer. In case you feel that you are, here’s where to go to sign up.